Skip to content

Q/W Pressure Floor

A zerg that only deals damage on major cooldowns gives the enemy too much freedom.

Core idea

Q/W pressure is the floor of a good fight. It creates constant threat, forces healing, prevents free resets, and converts enemy mistakes between major engages.

Why it matters

Q/W pressure:

  • keeps enemy frontliners low
  • punishes enemies walking out of your territory
  • forces healers to spend attention
  • creates panic before major engage
  • turns small mistakes into kills
  • helps your zerg take space psychologically

Who contributes

Pressure is not only ranged DPS.

Role family Pressure contribution
DPS damage, target conversion, pressure uptime
Ranged DPS ranged pressure, small-clump hits, area control
Melee DPS frontline pressure, execute threat, disruption, follow-up
Support DPS pierce, anti-heal, purge, debuff windows
Tanks slows, roots, displacement, body pressure, space control
Healers/supports sustain and utility that allow pressure players to stay forward

Weapon examples

Specific weapons can be used as examples on weapon-note pages. The general pressure concept should not imply that only Fire, Frost, or any one weapon family matters.

Common failure

Players press their major cooldown, then walk backward and do nothing while the enemy walks out. Tanks do not hold them, DPS do not pressure, and the fight resets for free.

Practice drill

Track a 15-second period between engages. Count how many safe players created useful pressure. If most players are only walking, the zerg lacks pressure floor.

Ranged pressure between cooldowns

Ranged DPS should not disappear between major E cooldowns. Fire-style, bow-style, frost-style, and siege-style tools all gain value from Q/W pressure, angle discipline, and active space control when the exact weapon is used correctly.